The law firm investigating the Tories says it can't promise to protect whistleblowers

Mark Clarke is at the
centre of an alleged bullying scandal that has rocked the
Conservative Party.YouTube

The law firm Clifford Chance,
hired by the Conservative Party to investigate the
circumstances surround the death of young party activist Elliott
Johnson, has said it can't protect the identities of people who
come forward with information.

Johnson,who took his own life in September, left
behind notes and recordings that alleged he had been bullied
and blackmailed by Mark Clarke, the head of Conservative youth
organisation RoadTrip.

The
politics blog Guido Fawkes has published a letter sent by
Clifford Chance to potential witnesses, in which the law firm
admits that they might not be able to protect the identities of
whistleblowers who come forward.

While they do say that they will "try to present the evidence in
a way which does not identify witnesses," they caveat that by
saying that they "cannot guarantee this will be possible."

You can read the relevant extract from the letter in this tweet
from Guido Fawkes Journalist Alex Wickham:

One of the reasons that Clifford Chance was appointed to carry
out the investigation is that there have been
multiple
allegations that the names of people who complained about
Clarke were leaked to Clark himself.

To draw a line under this affair, the Conservatives need the
Clifford Chance investigation to be seen as being beyond
reproach.